Osmosys & HitachiSoft Announce First Commercial Deployment for Interactive Blu-ray Software Platform

GENEVA, Switzerland and SHINAGAWA, Japan — Osmosys S.A. (SWX:ADBN), a leader and innovator in the development of open standards Java based interactive TV solutions, and Hitachi Software Engineering Co. Ltd. (HitachiSoft)(NYSE: HIT; TSE: 6501), a leading software development and IT service company, today announced the first commercial deployment of the companies’ integrated Blu-ray Software Platform. The Blu-ray solution has been embedded onto chipsets from Renesas and will be used in a new product introduction in the United States.

The Osmosys and HitachiSoft integrated Blu-ray Software Platform combines proven core middleware with CE embedded software to support a high performance and quality interactive Blu-ray HD experience when coupled with the Renesas Blu-ray chipsets This system on a chip solution used by Renesas creates a complete reference design for Blu-ray players and is available for any CE vendor.

“Osmosys has developed a superior BD-J middleware engine, and by adopting the HitachiSoft embedded software product, CE manufacturers can dramatically reduce the development cost for interactive Blu-ray applications,” adds Fujisaki Kazuhiro, Group Executive, HitachiSoft. “At an early stage, Osmosys realised the potential for innovative interactive applications that Blu-ray could provide. Having championed the format from the beginning, the company has used its experience and expertise to develop a robust and reliable BD-J engine on which to integrate our software. We are delighted with this deployment and look forward to continuing our strong relationship with Osmosys in the future.”

Key features of the Osmosys BD-J engine include:

• Platform independent – the Osmosys BD-J engine uses the Osmosys Platform Independent Layer, whichisolates the high-level software from the lower level drivers, allowing porting to multiple hardware solutions
• Robust implementation – built from existing GEM source code which is tried and tested since 2002 in the interactive TV market
• Next generation product available now – next-generation products providing any combination of Blu-ray, MHP, OCAP, DVR (including multiroom), IPTV and home networking capabilities can be built using the same porting layer.

“We have an excellent working partnership with HitachiSoft and we are delighted that the fruits of this labour are now being commercially exploited,” said David McElhatten, Managing Director, Osmosys. “This is the first commercial deployment of Osmosys’ Blu-ray solution, designed to meet the needs of DVD player and recorder manufacturers through the stability and maturity of our GEM-based software, which has already been successfully deployed in hardware products for satellite, cable, terrestrial and IP networks.”